I stop at Boones on the way to the office. I hadn’t wanted to make a lot of noise and risk disturbing Teagan’s sleep, so I skipped out on breakfast and coffee at home. I grab fritters and coffee for everyone and head for Footprint Construction.
I dole out coffees and fritters, and we go over the schedule for the week. We’re working on two different McMansion renos at the same time, and we’ve had to hire a few local guys to help. While Jack doesn’t do much of the grunt work anymore, he does spend a lot of time going between the projects, making sure things are running smoothly, and helping where he’s needed. It means that I’ve stepped into a foreman-type role when it’s me and a few of the younger, less experienced guys.
John, Jack, and Billy take their coffees and fritters to go, leaving me and Dillion in the office. We need to go over one of the plans for an addition, which is perfect because it means I can ask her a couple of questions in private.
“How many projects do you have Teagan working on right now?”
“A few. I can’t even tell you how awesome it’s been having her help. With all these huge renos, we needed someone with an eye for design, and it’s not something anyone local has a lot of experience with.”
“Yeah, she really does have an eye for design.” She rearranged my living room, and now the space looks twice as big. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure. What’s up?”
“It’s about Teagan, and it’s kind of personal.”
“Is everything okay with you two?” Dillion’s expression shifts to concern.
“Yeah. We’re good.” I flip a pencil between my fingers, needing to do something with my hands.
The tension in her shoulders eases slightly. “Okay. That’s good. You two seem like a bit of an unlikely pair, but I’m glad you work together.”
“Me too.” I nod a couple of times. “I’m worried about her.”
She stops leafing through her day planner and gives me her full attention. “Worried how?”
I bite the inside of my cheek. I don’t know how much I should or shouldn’t say, but any kind of advice I can get is better than nothing. I tell Dillion about what happened last night and how I have a feeling it’s not the first time.
“She told me she has insomnia sometimes, but I don’t know. I worry that she’s bitten off more than she can chew. She’s working five different jobs, she’s putting together all these design plans, and she’s taken on the entire fall farmers’ market on her own. The last two on their own would be a lot, but with everything else . . . I don’t know. I’m concerned she’s overwhelmed but she doesn’t want to disappoint anyone?” It’s framed like a question, because that seems to be something Teagan might do.
Dillion leans back in her chair, realization dawning. “Oh shit, Van warned me that she’s terrible at saying no, and I’ve been handing her new projects, thinking he was joking.”
“I don’t know if she recognizes that she’s taking on too much. I keep finding her in the living room working on emails first thing in the morning or the middle of the night.” I scrub a hand over my face. “She has a bunch of prescriptions; one is for attention issues.” I don’t want to talk about her behind her back, but I want to see what Dillion knows.
Her expression is pensive. “Oh yeah, Van mentioned that before. I think she was diagnosed as a kid or something? They never made a big thing about it because they didn’t want her to feel stigmatized or like it defined her as a person.”
“Okay. That makes sense.” And Dillion understands what that’s like, since Billy was diagnosed last year with bipolar disorder. It’s part of who he is, but it doesn’t define him as a whole person. “I just . . . the whole not-sleeping thing worries me a lot. She’s always hopped up on those energy drinks, which I don’t think is helping her at all. And her not being able to say no is probably making it all worse.”
Dillion taps her fingers on the desk. “She’s always been the kind of person to put herself last. Her job, her living situation, even her ex-boyfriend.”
“You mean the asshole who cheated on her?”
Dillion nods. “She started dating him because her dad thought he would be a good, stable partner. And then she kept trying to make it work even though she wasn’t invested because her dad liked him.”
“I didn’t know that.” But I’m starting to think there are a lot of things Teagan is hiding. And under that sunshine-and-smiles facade is a woman facing a lot of demons. I wish she understood she doesn’t have to face them alone.